It's Official

Last week I was honored to be a part of some very special celebration. My friends Mike and Aiyana tied the knot (FINALLY!) after much anticipation and we couldn’t be happier for them!!

**Congrats you guys – we love you!

Well along with the wedding came rehearsals, a bachelorette party, a lingerie shower, and a bachelor party for the men-folk. Good times were had by all (well… mostly. Poor Mike was 7 shades of red when the guys surprised him with this embarrassing accessories for the evening) and though it all went by quickly, I’m just glad that Studly and I were able to be a part of it and celebrate with them.


But I tell that story to tell you another story… one that comes with a need for your assistance in the coming months and a willingness for you to bear with me as I prepare. *teeth chattering

And for those of you not paying attention and trying to figure out what it is. Just be patient… you’ll learn soon enough.


Thursday night was Aiyana’s bachelorette party. The ladies all met at Fuji for dinner (and entertainment. Have you seen those hibachi grill chefs? AHHmazing!) and then went back to the maid of honor’s house for a little lingerie action (oww owwww!).

Wait.

Let me rephrase.

We went back to have a lingerie shower for Aiyana. *whew That sounds MUCH better.


Back to the story… while I was there catching up with some girlfriends I hadn’t seen in a while (which is ALWAYS a ton of fun, right?!), my friend Amber gave me this amazing tidbit of information. Here’s what happened.

She had been at Atlanta Bread Company earlier in the day and came across this pamphlet. Upon further review, she discovers that the event focuses on Crohns’ and Colitis.

As most of you know, McStudly was diagnosed with Crohns’ disease last year. It was actually this time last year, actually, when he was finally diagnosed, so it’s been about a year now that we’ve been learning and trying out different medications and treatment options. Growing through the process.


So basically – to state that this hits close to home would be a total understatement. It’s not close to home, people… it IS home! I mean, you can’t get a whole whole lot closer than that, right?!


Anywho, she gave me the pamphlet (thanks, Amber. You’re such a sweetheart!) and I took it him to look it over and do a bit more research on the subject. And after talking it over with the Stud himself, we decided we were game.


It’s official. This December, the 5th to be exact, McStudly and I will be running the Rock & Roll ½ Marathon in Vegas. The proceeds go towards helping the CCFA (Crohns’ & Colitis Foundation of America) find a cure.


Fact: Did you know that chronic, and often debilitating digestive diseases impact more than 1.4 million Americans? True Story.


But I’m tired of just talking the talk. Crohn’s hit home for us. And see how it affects people in all different ways makes me wanna get off my butt and do something about it. But since I don’t have my doctorate and am certainly not a scientist, this is where I can help. So I’m going to do it, dang it!


So how can you help? I’m glad you asked.


Don’t worry, you don’t have to sign up to run it with us. In fact, you can do everything from the comfort of your couch with a big ol’ bowl of popcorn and a nice Big Gulp on the table next to you… or whatever it is you eat while you think about other people exercising. For me, it’s Chocolate Chip cookies and/or brownies with a nice big glass of milk. Yumm… I can feel myself getting fatter already. Woohoo!!


No – in fact, all we need from you is a lot of encouragement and a little bit of moolah.

Okay – I’ve already lost some of you. *sigh


Really though – let me explain. This money isn’t going to us. It’s not going to some VP’s pocket. It’s not going into the big hole that is the US Government’s “treasury” (which reminds me - doesn’t something need to be in it for us to actually consider it a “treasury”? I’m just sayin…). It’s going directly into the funding of finding a cure for Crohn’s and Colitis.

By giving us just a few bucks here and there, as you’re able, you would not only be changing my husband and I’s life by helping us run this race, but you’ll be absolutely changing the lives of over 1.4 million Americans that are impacted by these diseases. And for that, my friends, I will be in huge debt to you.


For those who don’t know the whole story, my husband wasn’t sick hardly a day in his life until all of a sudden WHAM! He’s got an auto-immune disease that he’ll have for life. Umm.. whaaa?! That’s a lot for someone in their 20s to all of a sudden have to deal with. Not to mention how he went from not even knowing what a headache really was to having them on a consistent basis thanks to the steroids they put him on. He’s since switched treatments and now goes in for infusions every 8 weeks. If he misses one, he feels it.

That’s quite an adjustment.


Basically – we need your help. We need to raise $3,500 a piece to be able to compete in the ½ marathon and support such an amazing cause. But for those of you that are as skeptical as I am about these things, here’s where the money goes:

$2,500:
- 16 weeks of training with a professional trainer and the team of other runners in your area, to make it easier for you to be able to complete the race
- Race entry fees, which aren’t all that cheap for this one
- Hotel accommodations for race weekend
- Entry to the Pasta Party on the eve of the race, to make sure you load up on carbs before the big day
- Moolah moolah moolah going towards the whole reason for the race

$3,500:
- Airfare to and from Vegas (and I live almost as far as one can live and still be in the same continent) for the race along with your team
- Ground transportation to and from the airport, as well as throughout the weekend for the various organized activities


I know it seems like a lot of money – TRUST me… I’m worried that we won’t be able to raise enough to be able to participate. But I do know that even if something happens and we can’t raise enough to race, the money that we have raised will still go straight to the cause. And that, my friends, is music to my ears… er – McStudly’s intestines. ??


There you have it. McStudly and I will be training to run a ½ Marathon in December to benefit Crohns’ and Colitis research, and we’re stoked! Our only concern has nothing to do with training or getting there… it’s whether or not we can raise the money in time to be able to participate and support a cause that has such an effect on our lives already.


So that’s where you come in. Can you help? Any little bit will help us go a long way when combined with the other little bits we’re hoping to receive. AND come August, we’ll have a link on the side of the blog that’ll take you directly to our Team Challenge fundraising sites so you can contribute. So start setting aside money, if you can. We’d be greatly honored, probably more than you’ll ever know.




Thanks guys!!

Provision

It's been a great year... and I've been blog-M.I.A. for most of it (yeah. Sorry about that!), but it's been great, nonetheless.

With so much that's happened this year, I can't help but see God's hand and provision in our lives. Even through that crazy chaotic man-made house flood of ours, we received new carpet throughout the house, tiling in the bathroom (which we would've had to pay for ourselves), fresh new paint in various rooms... we couldn't have PLANNED that!

When McStudly was diagnosed with Crohns' disease, even after several hospital stays and medical appointments... countless pills and medicine trials... we hardly payed a dime for any of it (I actually don't think that we payed anything for any of it). We had amazing medical coverage through the military, fabulous doctors and facilities in our local area, understanding bosses and co-workers that covered for us, supportive family that checked in on us, and fabulous friends that helped make sure we felt loved and were taken care of. We couldn't have ASKED for anything better!

Even in our finances I can see him working. When bills came in higher than planned for (like when the electric company WAY overestimated our charges: think 8 months worth of bill credits) and life just... happened - cracked windshields, a sick dog, and home makeover mishaps (plenty of those in this house) - we were covered.

Just this month, Austin had quite a few dollars spent on vet bills... and by quite a few I mean the total is now over $1.2k on something as simple as ringworm (PS: much more serious on dogs, than humans, fyi). Somehow we were able to pay for (not charge) his vet bills the first time around... don't ask me how! But I thought for sure that there would be no way we could do it again. And I was right - we could not. But with God, all things are possible - and we are able to do it again. The vet said he needs one more round of meds to be sure it doesn't come back, and "somehow" we have the extra money to pay for that and his boarding expenses. I noticed last week, after doing some quick budget math (am I the only one that keeps a spreadsheet for each month that details how much goes to which bills for each paycheck, how much into savings, how much for spending, etc? Okay... call me precise and just shy of obsessive, but it works.) that we had about an extra $1k in savings that I couldn't really account for. Every bill is payed and already pulled up to date. There are no pending checks, and no pending withdrawals. We had planned to use the extra money to pay off our credit card, but when Austin needed vet visits, I knew it would be going towards that instead. But here's the cool part: we somehow didn't spend much (hardly any) of our allotted spending money over vacation... That's about $150 that we didn't use. And $269 just came in the mail as a reimbursement from our first round of vet bills (have I mentioned that I absolutely LOVE having pet insurance? Cause I do.) which I had totally forgotten about.

That's a total of: $419.00 that I had no way of accounting for beforehand. It was like surprise money... bonus cash.

So when I went to pick up Austin this morning from the vet's office, where he was boarding and had been re-checked by the vet, guess how much I had to pay?!


*drumroll please*


That would be a total of $406.68!



Isn't that amazing?! Not only are the vet bills covered out of pocket without even remotely affecting our regular monthly budget and bills, but we can also afford to pay off our credit card, now, with the extra money I "found" in savings.

Because we have been faithful to him in our finances and tithing, God has blessed us more than we could even IMAGINE through our finances.




As 2009 comes to a close, this evening, I look back and can see how God has blessed us way beyond what we could ever have planned, asked or imagined.




With this kind of provision from a truly wonderful, loving God that cares enough about me to even notice and cover the "little" things in life, I can't help but feel a peaceful confidence over whatever will be thrown our way in 2010.

May God continue to bless and care for you and yours, and may you be able to someday look back and see his hand in everything.





Happy New Year!

Let This Be A Lesson

So the energy company in our area is called BGE (Baltimore Gas & Electric).

And FYI - BGE is whack!! *newsflash!* Seriously, though... they're this monopoly of a company and no one can do anything about their price hikes. It's totally INSANE!!

So after 3+ straight months of being charged over $400 each month for electric (now remember - we live in a 2 bedroom townhome, people... NOT Barbie's dream house, okay?!), I did some investigating.

We had done almost EVERYTHING we could, without spending an arm and a leg for windows and doors (though that's next on our list!), to try and reduce our costs. We even had BGE install our FREE (count 'em... $0) programmable thermostat and setting it way low - freezing through the nights, and cuddling at dinner to stay warm.

But nothing - our bill was INSANE!! It made no sense!


Ahh... but it did. I started looking over our bills and saw that they were pulling our payments out of their butts estimating our payments. So naturally, the thought occurred to me that they maybe... possibly... were over-estimating JUST a bit.



Well, let's just say that "just a bit" was to our energy bill over-estimation about as much as the Osbournes are to a "normal" group of people. Yeah - it's THAT ridic! ...I'm just sayin'...



So this month, we literally left our gate (which does tend to get stuck, at times) WIDE frigging open, cleaned up every POSSIBLE ounce of dog poo, and moved every stinking imagineable thing OUT of the way in our 12' x 12' hugeness of a backyard (yeah... it's almost the size of our bedroom, people... massive indeed!) to make a nice clean path for the Meter-Reader Man-person.

And as a result, BGE has now granted as a credit to the grand! amount of *drumroll please* $835 and some change!!

Yes - you read that correctly. We've been charged over $800 dollars way TOO MUCH in the past few months. How insane is that?! And the best part - our "actual/normal" reading for this past month would have only ACTUALLY been about $98. A WHOPPING $98!!


So please - for the sake of the economy, for the sake of your sanity, and for the sake of all electric company's customer service representatives across the nation, go check your bills. If they're "estimating" your payment as well, put an end to it.




You'll thank me for this someday.

It Can Only Get Better From Here

Yesterday...

it has to have been the WORST day I have had in a very VERY long time. Let me sum up:

- woke up with the beginning stages of a migraine
- got to work and realized I had forgotten my badge
- received our BGE bill
- got ANOTHER call from Mr. Health Department
- my lunch caught on FIRE


So... I bet you're wondering why some of these things seemed to bad, and how in the world others actually happened. I'd be happy to oblige for the sake of my blog. :-) Now, I will essplain:


I woke up feeling awful and unable to open my eyes due to the vast amount of sunlight peering through my bedroom windows. For those of you who get migraines, you know that feeling. When you FIRST realize that a migraine is forming - it's like... there's no where to run... unless you enjoy sleeping in your bathtub with all doors shut and blankets stuffed under the doors. And it's not just like waking up with any headache, mind you. It's like waking up with pure agony being birthed in your head. Anywho, McStudly comes upstairs to wake me up (he had mysteriously woken up at like the butt-crack of dawn on his own and with no alarm clock, for some reason) and I send him off to fetch some Excedrin Migraine... the only medicine strong enough to fight off my personal Kryptonite. He does do, and I call in to work to tell them that I'll be late. Thank GOD I work with a soft spoken person, and not someone who answers the phone as loud and perky as my mother does (I love you, Momma Bear, but you know it's true!).

So I wake up about an hour and a half later feeling like I, along with my noble steed, Excedrin, had valiantly defeated my enemy. I get ready and head off to work. Upon turning into the - eh - establishment, I realize that I did not have my badge with me. If any of you know where I work, then you know I can't under ANY circumstances, even enter the parking lot without my badge. So I u-turn and pull into the Visitor's Center to get a temporary badge for the day. There is NO way I am turning around and going home to get it and come ALL the way back. So I go in and tell them I need a new badge. You would have thought that I was THE most IRRESPONSIBLE person on the PLANET! I'll spare you the conversational details and just skip to finally getting my badge and heading into the parking lot where I, amazingly, actually got a spot right in front of my building.

I headed inside and logged onto my computer to find an e-mail McStudly had sent while I was in Georgia this weekend. It was a forward of our BGE bill and HOLY LORD in HEAVEN!!! We only own a town home, mind you. Not even a large town home - like... a two story, two-bedroom town home. So then HOW, might I ask, is it even POSSIBLE for our bill to be well over $400??? Yeah... I didn't think it was possible, either. Especially since we just had BGE install our programmable thermostat last month. Here we thought we'd be cutting that bill in - like - HALF! Guess we were wrong on that one... (and don't worry, we've already cut our temperature down into like the low 62 degree range, after receiving this bill! Who needs anything more than blankets, right?)

I check my voicemail and, I should've known, Mr. Moulton's voice comes on, asking me to give him a call. Oy. I should've just gone home, then. So I call Mr. Moulton and he picks up right away. He informs me that they've received another complaint from Neighbor Lady (NL) and that we are now "required" to clean up our dog's poop every two days. Just FYI - we clean it up weekly. He goes one to sometimes two times a day. It's really not that much. But now, because they've received regular complaints over the same issue, though we've never ONCE been in violation of any HOA or County Health Codes, he has had to issue us a pre-citation. Now, a pre-citation has nothing to do with whether or not a violation has occurred, according to Mr. Moulton. But instead, it is the next step in dealing with a constant and regular complaint. Here's where I just let it all out. Now, I know that he is just doing is job. But after dealing with this huge load of crap (pun not originally intended, but left in for good measure) for the 4 and a half months that we've lived in our home, I think a good dose of sarcasm is long overdue. Fortunately for me, he doesn't really pick up on that kind of thing. So I'm laying it on PRETTY thick. "So let me get this straight, if I may... you have no regulations regarding cigarette smoke and it's affect on neighbors, however because she has to look at my dog's poop there's a 'health' concern?" Yes ma'am. That's correct. "Okay, so even though I can get LUNG cancer because she smokes about a pack-a-day in front of my house and her just having to LOOK at dog poop in MY backyard is a higher priority to the Anne Arundle County Health Department?" MmmHmm. That's correct. Am I the ONLY one that sees a problem here? Let's leave it at that. I'll spare you the remaining details. However, know that I am drafting up my letter to the Health Department high-ups as well as the NL. All of which will be sent certified mail so that I have proof that received them, should this crud go any further. So I get off the phone and am SHAKING I am so pissed off, at this point. Do you blame me?

But no... it can't end there. I haven't even had LUNCH, yet!

After watching the inauguration - which was pretty cool, might I add - I decide that it's time to finally shut my stomach up and have some lunch. Since I got to work late, I just ran down to the cafeteria and bought myself a little Stouffers french bread pizza to warm up instead of going out. "Cooking directions: Heat for 1 1/2 mins. in the microwave, then heat for 4 - 6 minutes in the toaster oven at 475." I put it in the microwave. Done. I set the toaster over to 450, because that's as high as it goes, here at work, and then put it in. I really had to pee, so I asked my co-worker, Lulu (not her real name), to pull it out if it starts to smell like it's smokey or something (our Toaster over smells like a forest fire when you warm a friggin pop tart... so it was bound to happen). She agrees and I run of to the little girls' room. Not 2 minutes later I return to Lulu standing in front of the toaster oven, wide-eyed and horrified. "You owe me, Sarah!" Why? What happened?? Here it is... in a nutshell: Not even half-way into it's 4-6 minutes of necessary cooking, the toaster oven starts to stink. So Lulu gets up and grabs some paper towels to help her take out the pizza. She turns it off, gives it a few minutes to cool, and then... after it stops "glowing" (the toaster oven, that is), she starts to pull it out. All was fine, at first. But then suddenly, one of the paper towels start to flicker a bit of a flame. She tried blowing it out (not a good idea, mind you) and the little flame becomes a BIG flame! So she stars calmly 'yelling' "This things on Fire!" She throws it down to keep from being burnt and two guys run over and begin stomping it out. So... not only am I the butt of everyones joke (and probably will be for a few weeks, and then everytime I attempt to cook my food) but there is ALSO a huge burnt piece of carpet on the floor to remind everyone, should that happen to forget.


I was so ready to just go home. But I ended up having an afternoon filled with writing letters to the Health Department and then on my way home, got a call from a girlfriend of mine to come to their house, because that's where McStudly was and we were going to order pizza and hang out. So the evening ended up fantastic. It was the only way to perfectly end such a horribly awful day.








Now... aren't you glad you're not me?

Lettin' It All Hang Out

So some friends of mine recently started blogging on finances and budgeting. Go check it out: The Dime Divas have some pretty good words of wisdom in their first few blogs already. But I decided to blog my own version and just put it all out there. Comments are very welcome... encouraged, in fact.

I've always considered myself to be smart when it comes to money. Pretty much supporting myself (Mom - I said pretty much... we BOTH already know it wasn't 100%) supporting myself from age 17 on, when I first started working. I was extremely lucky to get the part-time job that I did my Senior Year in High School. It's totally set me up in my professional life to be able to live pretty comfortably. And thus I have.

From the time I graduated high school, I had a full-time job, and not many bills to pay. I bought a used car the autumn after graduation, and a year later, bought a brand new car. Not just because I could, I mean my good ol' Neon needed some TLC that I was willing to cough up the dough for, but... in a way I guess you could say that I needed it. And I could afford it, so why not? And a cell phone... EVERYONE needs a cell phone, right? And then those hott shoes, I just HAVE to have them... and ohmygosh how much is that purse?! WHOA! Yeah... that's pretty much how life was. Eating out all the time with friends. Buying whatever clothes whenever I wanted them, and not saving much. About two years into my frivolosity, I decided I wanted to travel. So I actually started saving. I got a good penny saved up (about $4500, to be near-exact). And then that dang flying crap starts to hit the fan. Where DOES that stuff come from?

At the time, I was dating a guy that didn't make much money, and was also in school full time. So slowly, my savings started to become a bit more scarce. But I managed to come out of the relationship with a few thousand still hanging on by a thread. I decided to go visit my cousins in Australia. Who wouldn't want to go down under? *queue that "I come from the land down under" song that no one really knows the rest of the words to... are there even any other words?!* But with my spending habits the way that they are, it's hard to spend a couple thousand on such a trip, and still be able to afford that outfit you HAVE to have when you go down there.

Fast-forward a bit and here enters McStudly. Yes - he is just that... a stud. But he's also one of those people that never really had to worry much about finances. Did either of us, really? He pretty much supported himself (again... I said pretty much. Let's not get caught up on the details, shall we?!) from the time he got his first real job and on until we met.

You see - McStudly is in the Air Force. And the military takes pretty dang good care of their people. I mean... you won't see all of them walking around with Gucci shades and driving Beemers (oh wait - don't we have one of those?), but you're never in "need" of anything (though there are things to be desired if you live in military housing... oh sorry... moving on!).

*shaking head*

Sorry. Back on topic - so McStudly and I start dating, and I lose my job (the two weren't related... but it happened about 6 months after we started dating). Though I looked CONSTANTLY for a new one, it was 3 months before I finally got one. Another reason the savings dwindled even further. But the job I got was making WAY more money than the one I had lost - so life was good again. I would save some... and spend more. Get paid again. Save some... spend more. It was a vicious cycle, really.

I did manage to build my savings up quite nicely, again, even amongst the spending. Then... he proposed *insert wedding bells* and I was ecstatic!!

*music comes to a screeching halt*

HOLD UP!! Does anyone know how much weddings costs these days?! Holy Lord in HEAVEN! Minus buying an expensive dress that I ended up not being 100% happy with anyways, I did my best to be frugal with my wedding. Simple decor. Making the invitations. Making the programs. Blah blah blah... CHA-CHING!! It STILL costs a lot of money!

Needless to say, the savings dwindled quite quickly. But that's what it was for, right?! Well... pretty much. But still! Watching that balance drop is NOT a good feeling for anyone - especially soon-to-be-newlyweds. Plus, we had to find a place to live! There goes more money for the deposit on a nice rental. Now we need furniture! Buy a bed... a table and chairs.... a big comfy couch...

Now enter the Credit cards *dun Dun DUNNNN!!!*

We needed it! For our wedding... for our lives together... for... the HONEYMOON!!

Now enter Lines of Credit *insert "scary movie girl" scream in background*

Again I said ... We needed it?!

Who were we kidding. Fortunately, we had the ability to pay for most of it (thanks to a several hundred dollar bailout by Momma and Poppa Bear).

**SCENE CHANGE**

One month after we get married, McStudly just HAS to have a dog! And I'll admit - with his working nights, it's pretty unsettling being in a home all by yourself at night. So enter Austin, aka: McDog. And our luck - the breeder lies to us. So now he's sick, and vets are EXPENSIVE!!! $$$ *GASP* How many hundred for blood work and some medicine? I'm sorry.... say it again?? One more time, I must have heard you wrong?!

Well, he finally gets better, and we get "wiser"... we buy pet insurance. Thank GOODNESS for that (though it was a BIT late at this point, huh?).

So I've almost caught you up. We've got a "home". We've got my car and his truck. And we've got McDog to keep me warm at night.

But we're also paying out the YINGYang twins for gas, and so... we go car shopping for McStudly. We are super fortunate enough to find a used BMW (even though we were looking for a Mazda6) in great condition with SUPER low mileage and a super low price, and jump on the deal. The only catch - they won't give us enough for his truck to pay it off... and the bank won't work with negative equity. So... we take out a Signature Loan to pay for the difference, knowing we can pay it off within a year.

So... two cars we're paying for, now, AND another "line of credit". Oh yeah - And enter the unhappy Landlord/Neighbor (for silly reasons I'll omit from the story)... and our desire to own a home, so that we're no longer living in a "temporary" place, and in someone else's house, at that.

Time to find a new place to live.

After MUCH searching, and MUCH deliberation... we get super lucky and buy a house. We wave a very brief goodbye to our first home as a family, and eagerly move in to our very own brand new home!! So that about catches you up.

We've been in the new house (townhouse, really), now for about a month. And I JUST paid our first mortgage and HOA payments. *taking a deep breath* And by "paid" I mean I just put them in the mail on Monday. So yeah - it's all still fresh.

Well - I've been looking over the budgets I've created for our next few months, here, we're going to be okay. Really. I mean... we're looking pretty good, right now. We thought it would be a big adjustment, buying a home, and by the looks of our budget, we're going to be more comfortable than before! (Is that even possible?!)

ohmygosh I almost forgot to tell you. Thanks to an awesome lender, and our FANNtastic Realtor (and good friend), we actually got money BACK from buying the house. So, we ought down our interest rate, AND got a cash written back to us at closing. So we put that STRAIGHT to the Signature Loan we took out for the negative equity on McStudly's truck, and WAMBAMTHANKYOUMAAM We were able to pay it off!!

So here we are. Budgeting and turning into big kids. I have budgets completed THROUGH November, and once we're halfway through October (deemed "transition month" in the Puhl household), I'll start December's plan, to include Holiday/gift spending plans. :-)

The only stumbling block now, and a big one at that, is that McStudly is gone and I'm all alone. He's on a TDY for the military, and will be gone until December. So... they're paying us a little extra "separation pay" and also paying for his food and such while he's there, so there may be some budget changes when he's back and we're back to living normal.

But for now - it's all good. And we're doing really well knockonwood. SO that about wraps it up. Any advice on making things even more comfortable for us, as we save and save and pay off all that debt we racked up last year is MORE than welcomed... it's encouraged!

I'll post an update a bit down the road and keep you posted. But for now - don't forget to check out the Dime Divas. It'll be good times. I promise! ;-)

Toodles!

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PS: I tried usign Pear Budget, and it just wasn't for me. So don't feel bad if it's not for you, either. I'm super organized with our finances and already have a budget and spendplan in place, so Pear Bdget would've been double the work for me. But if you haven't already given it a thought, go check out www.pearbudget.com. It is pretty cool for those of you that are new to the budgeting territory need a little help getting started.

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Progress

Okie Doke-

In my first blog, I challenged myself to improving a lot of things about... well... myself. I got a lot of great comments from it, both online and in person, and have tried to really "apply" the advice I've been given. So let's take a look back and see how I've been doing, shall we?

I'll mark Green on the things that I feel I have improved, and Red on the things I can't say that about without lying... hopefully there won't be much red. Let's see:

#1 - Housekeeping
Okay. So I started off really strong, and then slacked off a bit again, BUT I'm back in high gear. The house looks great (AND this is AFTER I had a "party" at my house this weekend. GO ME!!). The only bad thing right now is more dishes (it's amazing how how you can't fit NEARLY as much as you thought you could into a single dishwasher load! And I've done two since Saturday night!). BUT since McStudly is at home today, he's supposed to be catching up on that (since this is a marriage and a partnership - it REALLY comes in handy for these kinds of things!!). As for Laundry, I have done LOTS of loads, lately, Kyle has thrown in a few, too, and just last night, I finished all but ONE basket of folding. :-) So... we're well on our way. Now, in all honesty we're probably only HALFWAY done everything (we've got TONS of clothes!), but that's still improvement, right? So... as we're going through things, we're setting aside things we don't wear or that don't fit, so we can finally get rid of them and have a normal sized wardrobe (and so that I have an excuse to go shopping again. It's been SOOO long and I miss it!). The house doesn't smell like I have a dog - I mean... you can't tell. :-D That's FANTASTIC to me!! The bookshelf is finally organized. The kitchen looks great (minus the dishes, that is). The bathroom is nice and neat (as long as McStudly keeps wiping up his lil' stubbles off the sink in the morning - great job, Sweety!). The spare bedroom could use a little more work... maybe a lotta more, BUT it's still pretty organized. :-)

#2 - Quiet Time
This is embarrassing. :-( I'm not very good at balancing my time. I have done better, so I suppose I COULD put it in green, but I haven't gotten to where I NEED to be with it. I've gotten great at praying more, for the most part, and I do more research on the Bible, etc, BUT I don't really sit down and just focus on God and read the Bible and meditate on it. And THAT'S where I need to be. It's like I skip the whole relational part of it. I've got the research, and the talking down, now I need to get better at the focusing and the sit-down-and-shut-up part of it. But that's SOOOO hard for me!! (No peanut gallery comments, please). It's just not something others can teach you - you have to figure out that kind of thing on your own. And it's not easy. But BOY am I glad that my God so patient. And BTW - I'm a FIRM believer in the fact that God has a sense of humor - Lord knows I provide him with PLENTY of entertainment. ;-) I'm a good laugh, for him, and I'm okay with that... but he wants more than a laugh and a big mouth who doesn't listen. And that's where I'm not doing so hot.

#3 - Money
We're doing WAY better!! We've started doing a "cash allowance" type of thing. We each get the same set amount of money for a two week period. That's it. Now, we didn't do so hot with our Memorial Day weekend, but in my opinion - Holiday weekends are more expensive, so it's all good. We were both okay with that. So... all is well. We're a little tight this week, because of it. But we'll probably take out a bit more to cover for the fact that it WAS a Holiday weekend last weekend. So... no worries. Next weekend means we get our new allowance! WOOHOO!! Just FYI - the allowance is for eating out, etc. Not as much other things. Neither one of us go shopping, really. And if we do, we run it by each other before we buy anything, really. The rule is really only for anything over $100, BUT we kind've do it anyways. We keep each other in the loop on money, so neither one of us can blame the other! ha ha - it's worked so far! Also - we've started a Credit Check Monitoring Program with our bank (because USAA rocks my socks!) and we're learning a LOT about what effects what. I've ALSO learned that you have to track things down to have them removed, even if the allotted time has passed for them already (which some people didn't know - check your credit!! But it's SO important to know this kind of stuff, and I'm glad we're figuring everything out. :-) Also - we're saving up to buy a house this summer (hopefully)!! No more "new car" talk. If I get a car, it'll be a "New-to-me" car, and it won't be this year, most likely. Probably next year or so... But to sum up - our debt is REALLY lowering (still waiting on that economic stimulus check, Dubbya!) and our savings will soon be piling up, as well. :-) So it looks to me like we're on our way!

and FINALLY... (drumroll please)

#4 - Exercise
Woohoo!! So I'm not like running 12 miles a day or anything crazy, BUT I'm doing better. Austin is getting good walks, most days, and I sometimes even run with him a bit. He's also getting walks with McStudly, when he's not working, and he's LOVING life! I plan on pulling out the pilates again, now that the house is pretty clean (though I was HOPING to wait on that new carpet... it may take a little longer for that than we thought) and manageable. I would LOVE to get a Wii and Wii fitness, but I'm not seeing that happening anytime soon - especially with the progress we've made and are making in the Moola Arena. But... I'm slowly feeling better about myself, and I KNOW the dog is happier than he was!! ha ha ha. I've also been trying to balance out my eating. If I DO eat something not-so-good for me, I try not to eat as MUCH. And I've been throwing in some salads before the other food, to help fill myself with something healthier before the bad stuff, and then not stuff myself until full, but eat until just past satisfied (I'm not disciplined enough, yet, to stop AT satisfied). So... I think all is going well.


Alrighty - so that's my update. How have YOU been doing in these areas?! Let's be honest, people. It feels good - I promise!!